Stokes Collection

Stokes Collection – Film 20

B&W. 10:26min. Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. early 1930s. Film made by Lady Stokes and Sir Hopetoun Stokes. ‘Madras – sea bathing’: bathers being punted back to shore. Scenes of ploughing with oxen in paddy fields. Threshing – oxen walking in circles on the grain. Winnowing. ‘Madras Occupations: a potter and his wheel’. Fishermen. Collecting water at a well in a mussak (leather bags). General views of dhobi wallahs doing laundry at a ghat; basket weavers.(film with captions)

Stokes Collection – Film 14

B&W. 11:20min. Mysore, Karnataka, India. 1933. Film made by Lady Stokes and Sir Hopetoun Stokes. ‘The Arms Puja’ – general views of spectators and procession Maharaja Krishnaraja IV Wodeyar (?) of Mysore and party at official dias. Scenes of troops in ceremonial dress (including decorated elephants). Procession and puja blessings. Horses, oxen and elephants highly decorated for the occasion. Indian spectators. Artists on stilts; military parades. Buildings illuminated for evening celebration. Landscape. (film with intertitles)

Stokes Collection – Film 13

B&W. 12:30min. Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. 1934. Film made by Lady Stokes and Sir Hopetoun Stokes. Scenes of the dam in operation. Metur River Dam: opening ceremony attended by Sir George Stanley, the Governor of Madras, and by Mr. Clement T. Mullings, chief engineer of the project. General views of the dam.

Stokes Collection – Film 12

B&W. 10:44min. Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. 1932. Film made by Lady Stokes and Sir Hopetoun Stokes. Construction of Metur dam. Scenes showing European and Indian teams at work, machinery, various stages of dam construction, and the flooded region behind dam wall.

Stokes Collection – Film 11

B&W. 7:48min. Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. 1931. Film made by Lady Stokes and Sir Hopetoun Stokes. Metur River Dam. ‘Dam across the Cauvery River conserves water for 301,000 acres’. Intertitle showing the total estimated costs and the length, height and capacity of dam. ‘Quarrying stone’. Transporting stone by train. ‘The Main Surplus Regulator’. General views of the initial phases of the dam building and surrounding area. Scenes of ‘Stone – crushers at work’ : detail shots of equipment. ‘Concrete-laying, towers and general views of dam, 1931 ‘. (film with captions)